Entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which includes sovereign states and dependent territories. Largely unrecognised states not in ISO 3166-1 are included in the list in ranked order, but are not given a rank number. The areas of such largely unrecognised states are in most cases also included in the areas of the more widely recognised states that claim the same territory; see the notes in the "notes" column for each country for clarification.

Largest country in the world (10.995% of the world's land mass); its Asian portion makes it the largest country in Asia, and its European portion of roughly 3,960,000 km2 (1,530,000 sq mi) makes it the largest country in Europe.[Note 2]

The largest English-speaking and French-speaking country, Largest country in the Western Hemisphere by total area (second largest by land area, after United States), with the largest surface area of water. Total area and water area figures include area covered by freshwater only, and do not include internal waters (non-freshwater) of about 1,600,000 km2, or territorial waters of 200,000 km2.[4][5]

Second largest English-speaking country, Largest country in the Western Hemisphere by land area (second largest by total area, after Canada). Secondary figures for total area and water area denote the inclusion of all coastal and territorial waters into the statistical area.[Note 4]

Sovereign states with areas greater than 100,000 km2 are shown in green. In addition, non-sovereign territories are included for purposes of comparison, and are shown in gray. Areas include inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). Claims to parts of Antarctica by various countries are not included.

^ abThe following two primary sources (non-mirrored) represent the range (min./max.) of total area for China and the United States.
Both sources (1) exclude Taiwan from the area of China; (2) exclude China's coastal and territorial waters.
However, the CIA World Factbook includes the United States coastal and territorial waters, while Encyclopædia Britannica excludes the United States coastal and territorial waters.

The CIA World Factbook lists China as fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada and the United States) with a total area of 9,596,960 sq km,[8] and the United States as the third-largest at 9,833,517 sq km.[9]

Notably, Encyclopædia Britannica specifies the United States' area (excluding coastal and territorial waters) as 9,525,067 sq km, which is less than either source's figure given for China's area.[7] Therefore, while it can be determined that China has a larger area excluding coastal and territorial waters, it is unclear which country has a larger area including coastal and territorial waters.

United Nations Statistics Division's figure for the United States is 9,833,517 sq km and China is 9,596,961 sq km. These closely match the CIA World Factbook figures and similarly include coastal and territorial waters for the United States, but exclude coastal and territorial waters for China.

Further explanation of disputed ranking: The dispute for world's third-largest country arose from the inclusion of coastal and territorial waters for the United States. This discrepancy was deduced from comparing the CIA World Factbook and its previous iterations[10] against the information for United States on Encyclopædia Britannica, particularly its footnote section.[7] In sum, according to older versions of the CIA World Factbook (from 1982 to 1996), the US was listed as the world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and China) with a total area of 9,372,610 sq km. However, in the 1997 edition, the US added coastal waters to its total area (increasing it to 9,629,091 sq km). And then again in 2007, US added territorial water to its total area (increasing it to 9,833,517 sq km). During this time, China's total area remained unchanged. In other words, no coastal or territorial water area was added to China's total area figure. The United States has a coastal water area of 109,362 sq km, and a territorial water area of 195,213 sq km, for a total of 304,575 sq km of additional water space. This is larger than entire countries like Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Adding this figure to the US will boost it over China in ranking since China's coastal and territorial water figures are currently unknown (no official publication) and thus cannot be added into China's total area figure.

^The total area given is from Encyclopædia Britannica and includes disputed territories not under Indian control but claimed by India. The total area claimed by India, according to the figure given by the United Nations and the Indian government, totals 3,287,263 km2 (1,269,219 sq mi).[15]

^The area of internal waters is officially reported as 0[17] even though several seasonal lakes and permanent reservoirs exist in the country. Prior to 2011, Sudan was the largest country in Africa but the secession of South Sudan led to Algeria becoming the largest country in Africa.

^A total of 1,755,636 km2 (677,855 sq mi) of land area is covered by ice; the ice-free area amounts to 410,450 km2 (158,480 sq mi).[14]

^ abThe water area percentage of Sudan prior to the secession of South Sudan was 5.18.

^Prior to the independence of South Sudan in 2011, Sudan's total area as reported by the UN source was 2,505,813 km2 (967,500 sq mi). Updated figure shown is from the CIA.[1]

^The area given is from the 2007 data and the CIA World Factbook.[1][13] The UN Demographic Yearbook lists a figure of 1,628,750 km2 (628,860 sq mi), which refers to land area only.

^Source gives area of metropolitan France as 551,500 km2 (212,900 sq mi) and lists overseas regions separately, whose areas sum to 89,179 km2 (34,432 sq mi). Adding these give the total shown here for the entire French Republic. The CIA reports the total as 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi).[1] Another source, the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies, gives an area figure of 632,759 km2 (244,310 sq mi).[20] (The CIA gives a water area of metropolitan France as 1,530 km2 (590 sq mi).)

^May or may not include the Galápagos Islands (7,880 km2 or 3,040 sq mi). The 2007 data,[13] as well as the current data given by the CIA, explicitly includes the Galápagos and gives the figure as 283,561 km2 (109,484 sq mi).[1]

^The total area figure is that reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Demography of Burkina Faso (INSD).[23] The water area is that reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization[24] and the land area is taken to be the difference between these two figures.

^The government gives the total figure as 266,838 square kilometres (103,027 sq mi).[25] CIA World Factbook has total/land area of 267,710 km2 (103,360 sq mi). All figures include Niue, the Cook Islands and Tokelau, shown separately, exclude the Antarctic claim of Ross Dependency.

^Benin's official total area increased from 112,622 km2 (43,484 sq mi) to 114,763 km2 (44,310 sq mi) following the resolution of the Lete Island dispute in 2005.[27] The water area is that reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization[28] and the land area is the difference between these two figures, rounded to the nearest square kilometre.

^ abcData for the Netherlands is from the Central Bureau of Statistics.[32] Source gives area of European Netherlands as 41,528 km2 (16,034 sq mi) and lists the three special municipalities separately, whose areas sum to 322 km2 (124 sq mi). Adding these gives the total shown here for the entire country of the Netherlands.[33] Adding the constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the total area of the Kingdom of the Netherlands covers 42,508 km2 (16,412 sq mi).

^The figure from the UN demographic yearbook (41,277 km2 or 15,937 sq mi) excludes the areas of state forests and communanzas,[further explanation needed] which amount to 7.15 km2 (2.76 sq mi). The figure here is from the 2007 data.[13]

^The UN source does not include data for the Republic of China on Taiwan. The figure shown is from the 2012 Statistical Data from the Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China. The CIA gives a total area of 35,980 km2 (13,890 sq mi). The total constitutional land area of the Republic of China is 11,420,000 km2 (4,410,000 sq mi), which includes modern-day Taiwan, Mongolia, and Mainland China.[34]

^The figure shown includes the area of Transnistria (4,163 km2 or 1,607 sq mi), which is de facto independent from Moldova.

^The UN gives no information for the British Indian Ocean Territory. The figure given here was taken from the CIA Factbook, and refers to land area only.[1]

^The figure shown is from the CIA Factbook, and includes Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Island.[1] The UN figure is 5 km2 or 1.9 sq mi, and only includes area for Pitcairn island itself, the only inhabited island in the group.

^"平成29年全国都道府県市区町村別の面積を公表" [Publicizing areas of each prefecture municipality district and municipality in Heisei 29] (Press release). 国土地理院 (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan). Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2018.